OUN(M) SECURITY BODIES DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (1940 – 1944)

Abstract

The article analyzes the activities of the security bodies of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists of the Melnyk direction during the Second World War. It was proven that the bodies were created by some former OUN intelligence officers, who were led by Yaroslav Haivas, in February 1940 on the territory of the General Government. In March 1941, the counterintelligence group, which was involved in identifying Bandera’s agents, of the sub-unit was separated. In the summer of 1941, the development of the OUN(M) security bodies network had begun on the territory of Western Ukraine. They resembled the OUN intelligence of the 1930-s by their structure. They reached the greatest development in southern Volyn. In the autumn of 1941, Melnyk security bodies extended their influence on Ukrainian lands to the east of Zbruch. Faced with German repression, they did not dare to confront the armed resistance, considering it was hopeless. Melnyk’s security bodies had high hopes for achieving strong positions in the occupation administration. They primarily focused on the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police. The development of the OUN(M) cells was slow even in the Western Ukraine. It mostly occured in the towns controlled by Germans. The article clarified that Melnyk’s counterintelligence forces sometimes managed to identify and even eliminate individual Bandera agents. However, they could not effectively resist the much stronger OUN (Bandera) Security Service. In the summer of 1943, Melnykivtsi were finally defeated in that confrontation. Banderites surrounded a few armed formations of the OUN(M) and attached them to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. After those events the Melnyk movement started to decline. The last OUN(M) security service boivka operated until the autumn of 1944 in the Drohobych region.